January 12, 2026 • 28 mins
Revisits the long-standing rivalry with the Raiders, including the infamous 1976 playoff loss and the Week 4 defeat earlier in the season. Celebrates the Patriots’ cathartic Divisional Round win in Los Angeles that propelled them to the AFC Championship.
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
What do you remember about the nineteen eighty five Patriots
forty years later? We're going back to tell the story
of the first Patriots team to make it to a
Super Bowl, the special team that blazed a pathway that
we much traveled over the next four decades. Here from
the players and coaches, as well as the sounds from
television and radio that defined the season, as we uncover
what made this a Patriots team to remember even if
(00:20):
they didn't win a Super Bowl championship. Here, annihilating might
be a better word.
Speaker 2 (00:27):
Good yard.
Speaker 3 (00:32):
Here we playboard, push out, doing what the defense coy
Murger's back.
Speaker 4 (00:38):
We're gonna throw a fire one the fire.
Speaker 5 (00:41):
Cut down, Morgan puts down, pair hurbing player running it
all away, good.
Speaker 6 (00:53):
Touchdowns, eighty five yards burning prior Nason rolling out to
the right side, avoiding the presser.
Speaker 3 (01:00):
I'm Ernie Brown, Lynn Duffin in the end zone six
point Patriots shut down Atrian Tony Collins look hate brand
have believe.
Speaker 1 (01:11):
I might do so. And this is a Patriots Super
Bowl Sound Odyssey nineteen eighty five, Episode seven, The Revenge were.
Speaker 6 (01:18):
About to ten to seconds, Romantico, You aren't Jets. The
season is over. We want Patriots, hit us back home
to Boston, to Hall and let's stay prepare for the
Los Angeles Rater.
Speaker 1 (01:32):
After notching the franchise's first NFL Playoff winning team history,
the nineteen eighty five Patriots were moving on to the
divisional round where the twelve and four Raiders awaited. Just
two seasons removed from their third Super Bowl title, the
Patriots and Raiders had history, painful history. The nineteen seventy
six playoff loss still haunted many of New England's veterans,
while Sugar Bear Hamilton of the infamous roughing the passer
(01:53):
call was now part of the Patriots coaching staff.
Speaker 7 (01:56):
Mark the end zone the Raider.
Speaker 4 (02:08):
The down one line.
Speaker 8 (02:13):
Only thirty football.
Speaker 1 (02:15):
Game earlier, in Week four of nineteen eighty five, the
Raiders beat the Patriots thirty five to twenty, the most
lopsided loss of the Patriots regular season, the Raiders going on.
Speaker 9 (02:24):
To the victory here for the record of two and two.
Time has run out the New England Patriots. So the Raiders,
with a bounce back victory following the clabbering at the
hands of the forty nine ers last week, have turned
it to defeat the Patriots by the score of thirty
five to twenty.
Speaker 1 (02:43):
Now the Patriots had a chance to rewrite the story
and finally achieve what was stopped by the Raiders nearly
a decade earlier. Even rookie garn Varus was aware of
the team history between the two franchises.
Speaker 10 (02:53):
Yeah, well, Sugar Barry Helmlton was one of my assistant coaches,
so uh he we had to hear about that every
day in practice. So that was that was that was
a little bit of incentive for the defensive line to
you know, get get a win for for Ray Hamilton. Uh,
what a great guy, what a great coach, And I
know that was still a bitter, bitter piece and uh
(03:15):
you know their memory, but uh, to be part of
that team that could you know, go back after what
had happened in uh in the seventies and to get
that win out in l A was was you know,
spectacular if.
Speaker 1 (03:28):
You gave the plucky Patriots a chance. GM Patrick Sullivan
saw head coach Raymond Barry takes special steps to get
his team prepared.
Speaker 11 (03:35):
Well, you know, in that era, there was no such
thing as a practice bubble. So Raymond said, well, let's
let's uh let's go practice in southern California and set
up shot down there. And we ended up at Santa
Anna College, which is just south of Anaheim, and spent
the week practicing there, and every day in the LA
(03:56):
papers there would be a quote from Howie Long talking
about the fact that as long as the Sullivan family
was involved with the Patriots, they had no chance of
ever going to the Super Bowl, right, And it was
just it was really personal, went through the whole week, right,
And I couldn't really quite understand that. You know, we
had never had any interaction with how I would presume
(04:19):
our scouts, did you know at some point when you
was at Villanova. So I'm not really sure where that
animosity came from. We had an equal level of animosity
towards Al Davis, but we weren't talking about it in
the paper.
Speaker 12 (04:32):
You know, I'm a member of the winningest team of
professional football. We've been to the playoffs thirty some odd times.
The Patriots have been there six times, haven't won yet.
We'll see who wins today.
Speaker 1 (04:43):
Nineteen eighty five, UPI CO Defensive Player of the Year
Andre Tippett knew the defense was ready to go toe
to toe with the Raiders.
Speaker 13 (04:48):
Nobody ever said anything, but we knew. We knew that
there was bad blood. We knew the Sullivans and the
davis Is, the things were happening, and you know, we
didn't think much of it more than just it's there.
Speaker 4 (05:02):
It exists.
Speaker 13 (05:03):
But we again, it's like the big bad Bully, the
big bad Bear, the big bad boogeyman. Hey, let's eleven
against eleven. Everybody's competing, everybody's bringing it, nobody's letting anybody
down or everybody on top of their assignments. We're gonna
make it halp. And we just we took every every
(05:26):
gut punch, every upper cut, every haymaker they threw at us,
and we just kept fighting back. I mean, it wasn't
any you know thing like they get a touchdown and
we put a head down and you know, man, we
you know, it was just like we just kept fighting.
We were swinging body blows and everything.
Speaker 11 (05:43):
It was.
Speaker 4 (05:43):
It was crazy.
Speaker 8 (05:44):
We're lying from the Los Angeles Memorial Collar Sam. It's
a long walk about one hundred yards through a winding
tunnel from the locker rooms down to the field of
play eighty five thousand away. The Raiders meet the Patriots
for a chance to play Miami next week and then
the road to.
Speaker 4 (06:00):
The Super Bowl.
Speaker 1 (06:01):
January fifth, nineteen eighty six, Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum, Patriots
verse Raiders for the chance to go to the AFC Championship.
Speaker 8 (06:09):
It's an He's a game to look at because just
like good theatre in good cinema, you look up on
the marquee and the stars are there. And for these
two teams, the Patriots and Raiders, EH has a headliner
that has certainly drawn a lot of attention.
Speaker 14 (06:21):
By the opposition.
Speaker 1 (06:22):
The Raiders were without their starting quarterback Jim Plunkett, the
Patriots first overall draft pick in nineteen seventy one, who
have been limited to just three games in nineteen eighty five.
Backup Mark Wilson had gone eleven to two in his place,
but through twenty one interceptions to just sixteen touchdowns.
Speaker 15 (06:36):
Not only a great deal of the preparation during this week,
but a lot of the conscience but of this New
England defense is on number thirty two, Marcus Allen.
Speaker 4 (06:44):
He is the ded A mark Man.
Speaker 1 (06:46):
It was nineteen eighty five NFL MVP Marcus Allen who
led the Raiders offense rushing for seventeen hundred yards and
eleven touchdowns, while tight end Todd Christensen was their main
receiving threat with eighty two receptions.
Speaker 15 (06:57):
Let's look first to Tony Eason and he has had
it up down season a season and what she was
able to get off to a very bad start, set
out for a while with Grogan on the field, and
came back and has played very well for the Patriots.
Speaker 1 (07:09):
They hoped to get another clean performance from their quarterback
Tony Easton well. Going against a bruising defense led by
Howie Long, Matt Millen, and former Patriot cornerback Mike Haynes,
Easton would have to be better than he was when
he faced the Raiders in Week four. Veteran linebacker and
defensive signal caller Steve Nelson knew the key would be
stopping Allen.
Speaker 16 (07:26):
I think the one thing we had was their quarterback
situation was not great, and we knew that we had
to stop there, you know, Marcus Allen. And if we
did that, we were going to be all right because
we didn't think they could be us throwing the ball,
and you know, we had a couple of great corners,
so that didn't surprise me movie.
Speaker 17 (07:46):
Though, actually going out to l A, we knew you
know that, you know they had they had Marta Allen.
I mean they had a great defense long, I mean
they were stacked man, and they were a team that
was destined to go to the next level.
Speaker 1 (08:01):
The Patriots took the opening kickoff and quickly picked up
two first downs, getting out to midfield before Easan took
a sack and they were forced to punt third and
long for reason.
Speaker 2 (08:09):
And he's in big trouble, Sean Jones, number ninety nine.
He's played three games since Alzado was injured, five and
a half six in those three games, and he picks
up a minus.
Speaker 14 (08:24):
Fourteen on that play.
Speaker 15 (08:26):
That's a lion Driver twenty one level free ball.
Speaker 4 (08:31):
And who's got it? They're still in a tugo war
down there there.
Speaker 15 (08:35):
Some of the best fights in football are at the
bottom of those stacks.
Speaker 4 (08:38):
When the fumble is loose.
Speaker 2 (08:39):
It's New England's ball and the first big break goes
to the Patriots. Raemond Berry's Special Teams come up with
a fumble.
Speaker 1 (08:49):
Of Fulton Walker, but once again New England Super Special
teams came through after getting four takeaways against the Jets
in the wildcard round, the Patriots were on their way
to six against the Raiders. It was a season long
trend and highlighted the consistent game changing plays the defense
and special teams delivered something that Craig James believed could
get into an opponent's head.
Speaker 18 (09:07):
You get in the head of your opponent because you've
got this reputation of creating turnovers. So now you're playing us,
you're sitting everything. Am I gonna be the guy is
going to fumble this thing? Am I going to turn
it over? I'm going to miss a block that causes
a fumble, strip sag and so you get in their head.
We had a fumble drill at every practice that Raymond did,
and you had to pick up two balls. Everybody on
(09:27):
the team they dropped the ball, you had to fall
on it. And it made us become instinctive, you know,
second nature. You fall on the ball, pick it up.
I'm sure Nowaday, he said, a lot of coaches do
that with a fumble drill, but for us, it was
like saying, it was instincts.
Speaker 1 (09:41):
Balls on the ground, you're on the ball, you know,
And so it paid off. Jim Bowman recovered the muff
punt return, and two plays later, Easan would hit tight
end Lin Dawson for the game's first score.
Speaker 2 (09:50):
So it's second and a long Tooesen touchdown, Lynn Dawson,
the tight end.
Speaker 15 (09:57):
The Patriots come up with a touchdown. I want to
turnover on special teams. That's a good scrabble by Easton
getting to the outside.
Speaker 4 (10:05):
This was something that the Raider defense was concerned about.
Speaker 14 (10:08):
A great throw the sixth three, Dawson leaping high above
the defender.
Speaker 19 (10:12):
Tony Franklin ants the extra point, a thirteen yard touchdown
from Easton to Lynn Dawson.
Speaker 4 (10:18):
Dawson did not catch.
Speaker 14 (10:20):
A touchdown past whole year, but he has a big
one early.
Speaker 4 (10:24):
In this playoff.
Speaker 1 (10:25):
Cornerback Ronnie the Pett took note of the first touchdown
as he was on the verge of one of the
best games of his career.
Speaker 20 (10:30):
Charlie Asim was a fine quarterback man.
Speaker 4 (10:33):
People just don't know how good he was. He was great.
Speaker 20 (10:37):
He threw the ball in there and Lynn Dawson he
caught the ball in the end zone over over a
guy's head and I'm like WHOA Two.
Speaker 1 (10:49):
Plays later, the defense continued the turnover parade. That wouldn't
stop all game long, looking for Christensen said.
Speaker 21 (10:57):
It is intercepted by the Patriots pets at the thirty
six yard line, Love pets diving in front of the
intended receiver, and New England.
Speaker 14 (11:09):
Has turned it over again.
Speaker 1 (11:11):
However, despite getting two first quarter takeaways, the Patriots couldn't
expand their lead, and a blocked Punk got the Raiders
on the board with a field goal.
Speaker 15 (11:18):
Barry's philosophy very simply, let's not make the mistakes, let's
make them beat us, Let's not beat ourselves.
Speaker 4 (11:24):
Here is Raymond Barry.
Speaker 19 (11:26):
Boys looking fifty two twentieth round draft choice himself with
the coach now Hall of Famer Bolton Walker.
Speaker 2 (11:33):
At the ten for the Raiders, and it picks a
big Raider bound followay on the twenty Raiders.
Speaker 14 (11:42):
Ball at the New England sixteen right.
Speaker 2 (11:45):
Townsend's block punt leads to a bar field goal.
Speaker 4 (11:49):
I have seven to three Patriots.
Speaker 1 (11:51):
The Raiders started to ride Marcus Allen but missed another
field goal as New England's offense punted on back to
back possessions.
Speaker 2 (11:57):
Plenty of legs upright and skits to the outside.
Speaker 4 (12:02):
No urb, he's no bar.
Speaker 2 (12:04):
Then unlucky hits the wrong side of the bar and
it's wide right, and it remains seven to three New
England with fourteens in left in.
Speaker 1 (12:12):
The ham the field position started to shift in Eli's
favor and the league MVP Allen was starting to heat up,
leading the Raiders to the first touchdown of the game after.
Speaker 2 (12:21):
The penalty wind up in touchdown Hester Jesse Hester, the
rookie from Florida State, the Raiders number one draft h.
Speaker 14 (12:30):
And Los Angeles leeds for the first time.
Speaker 1 (12:33):
The Raiders took the lead ten to seven and quickly
expanded upon it when mostly Totupu lost a fumble on
New England's next offensive play.
Speaker 14 (12:40):
Ten to seven, Raiders laid for the first time.
Speaker 15 (12:42):
Ten on a half minutes.
Speaker 14 (12:43):
Left in the hands to two poo probles and the
Raiders have it. How he long was in control before
he went out of bounds.
Speaker 15 (12:54):
He's everywhere.
Speaker 1 (12:56):
Alan cashed in three plays later, Marcus s Adam.
Speaker 14 (13:02):
Touchdown.
Speaker 2 (13:02):
But a flag is sound and the way they're reacting
it's against no Egglin touchdown will hold.
Speaker 1 (13:11):
The Raiders had scored seventeen straight points is The Patriots
were now down by ten in the second quarter. And
desperately in need of a response, and they'd get it.
James scampered for sixteen yards on the first play. Easton
hit James for twenty four yards two plays later. Then
Totupu made up for his fumble with a twenty two
yard run.
Speaker 4 (13:27):
So Tupoo, he's in the open.
Speaker 14 (13:30):
So that fifteen yard line mostly to two poo.
Speaker 1 (13:34):
James would finish off the eighty yard drive and the
Patriots were back in business, cutting the Raiders' lead to
seventeen to fourteen.
Speaker 14 (13:41):
No England trying to close within three. They don't want
a field goal. They talked it over on the sidelines.
Shut it down. He had a handoff to James. He's
got a blocker. He's gotta cutch down.
Speaker 2 (13:54):
Hog Hannah pulling and that little.
Speaker 4 (13:57):
Inside hand off out of the shotgun.
Speaker 14 (13:59):
That has worked well for the Patriots throughout the year.
Speaker 4 (14:03):
The Rugger one.
Speaker 15 (14:04):
The man has been called the best lineman in all
of football's history, professional history. We'll show you a moment
what Hawk Hanna did on that play.
Speaker 4 (14:13):
Just a moment ago.
Speaker 15 (14:14):
We signed burying somebody on the play previous.
Speaker 1 (14:16):
The Patriots would start to pour it on first, narrowly
missing out on her fumble recovery on the ensuing kickoff,
but they'd have to wait just two more plays to
get the ball back. When Ronnie Lapett grabbed his second
interception of the game Wilson.
Speaker 2 (14:31):
Interceptab the Patriots have it at the twenty eight yard line.
Ronnie LaPete has his second steal of a Wilson pass
in the first half.
Speaker 14 (14:41):
Not well thrown at all.
Speaker 1 (14:43):
Franklin tacked on another field goal to tie things up.
Speaker 19 (14:45):
Try to take advantage of la Pet's second interception of
a Wilson pass here in this first.
Speaker 4 (14:50):
Half, see Franklin stamping things down.
Speaker 15 (14:53):
He's ll Stillskin is preparing the spot where he's going
to kick front.
Speaker 2 (14:58):
I watch him.
Speaker 4 (14:58):
He'll step back and here after stopping that grass.
Speaker 14 (15:02):
Down, he knows where the ball is.
Speaker 4 (15:04):
The finger of the holder Ethan.
Speaker 14 (15:06):
Marks the spot.
Speaker 2 (15:07):
Forty five yard attempts and it's good.
Speaker 1 (15:12):
But New England couldn't hold the tie into halftime, allowing
the Raiders one final field goal drive. However, it will
be Los Angeles's final points of the game, and the Raiders.
Speaker 2 (15:22):
Had the lame an impressive drive, but I'm frustrating in
for Los Angeles.
Speaker 4 (15:28):
They certainly thought they'd get seven.
Speaker 14 (15:29):
Out of that and had to settle for the three.
Speaker 4 (15:32):
They had a twenty to.
Speaker 2 (15:32):
Seventeen lead with six seconds remaining in the hair.
Speaker 1 (15:36):
At halftime, the Patriots were down by three, with the
Raiders maintaining a twenty to seventeen lead. At the start
of the third quarter, the defense began to further exert
their will, led by two sacks from Don Blackman under
defensive coordinator Rod Rust, Andre Tippett, and the Patriots defense
saved their best for the playoffs.
Speaker 15 (15:52):
You wonder who's calling the defenses for this new England team,
Rod Rust.
Speaker 4 (15:57):
What an incredible year he has had.
Speaker 15 (16:00):
He has put this team together, and he was I
think a real blessing for Raymond Berry that he was
in place and had this defense cranking. Ray mcberry one
of his first acts was to say, hey, I want
him to stay as long as he wants us.
Speaker 13 (16:14):
He again, we knew what we're capable of, and it
was like, dude, I mean, we're do your job. We're
doing your job. Before it became a big, big thing,
big slogan, but we were literally doing what we had
practiced for, what we were going to be aware of.
We we you know, Rod Russ broke it down to us.
(16:36):
Here's what's going to happen. Here's what you're going to
look for. Here's when our opportunity is going to show itself.
Speaker 4 (16:41):
And we did it.
Speaker 13 (16:42):
We we were not in awe of anybody.
Speaker 14 (16:46):
We're down to seventeen for Wilson. Don Blackman. Well, that
was a rough series for Wilson. Two timeouts and a
very rude second got all.
Speaker 1 (17:00):
The way to the Patriots forty before they started going
backwards thanks to Blackman and a holding call, Allen had
already gone over one hundred yards. The Patriots defense bent,
but didn't break, as they continued to hang on even
through their own mistakes.
Speaker 14 (17:13):
Over the middle of James Blah blah, balls and the
Raider had it.
Speaker 2 (17:18):
James had picked up the yardage necessary for a first down,
but then loses the ball and Van Mcelelay recovers at
the Patriot thirty nine.
Speaker 1 (17:29):
Craig James fumbled it back to the Raiders on New
England's first possession of the second half, but Marcus Allen
coughed it right back to the Patriots. On the raiders
first play, Marcus Allen.
Speaker 2 (17:37):
Hap on balls and New England has it at the
thirty two Brad Marion for thirty one balling pumpkin as
Marcus Allen.
Speaker 4 (17:48):
Hadn't scripped away.
Speaker 22 (17:49):
The Raiders are arguing that Allen was known real turnaround
and the turnovers. You see the listed there for by
the Raiders today, and how interesting it is that they
can continue to be a team that somehow manages to
survive the negative numbers on the turnover.
Speaker 2 (18:06):
Go back to back fumbles and the Patriots have it
again at their own thirty two midway through the third quarter.
Speaker 1 (18:13):
That's when Easton and the Patriots put together two quick scores,
one on offense and one on special teams, the same
way they had done the week before, to help seal
the win over the Jets.
Speaker 14 (18:22):
Yeah, Neison, no complictions to a wide receiver?
Speaker 3 (18:28):
Is this the time yet?
Speaker 2 (18:29):
Stanley Morgan bumbles and Irving Prior lovers for New England, Well,
how do you do? They don't complete a pass to
a wide receiver.
Speaker 22 (18:39):
So four and a half minutes into the third quarter
and then both men get their hands on.
Speaker 4 (18:42):
A successful blood.
Speaker 1 (18:44):
Stanley Morgan's twenty two yard reception that he nearly fumbled
away was the key play on the drive, setting up
Tony Franklin with a thirty two yard field goal that
tied the game at twenty to twenty.
Speaker 2 (18:54):
Wendy leg and it's even again as Franklin grills it.
Speaker 1 (18:58):
The Raiders lined up to receive the suing kickoff, but
the Patriots special team struck again, with Cedric Jones and
Jim Bowman getting in on another game changing play.
Speaker 23 (19:06):
And then we had a fumble play where I taba
ball Sam Seal on a kickoff return on table. I
was I deal with the tap and try to get
the Ins on their recovery. As I got to the
ens on Jim Bowen ran over me. He weighed two
twenty high, weigh one eighty five, so you got the
fumber recovery.
Speaker 14 (19:22):
Kicking to Sammy Seal at the five oh no place.
Speaker 2 (19:25):
The high bubbles again in New England. They have a touchdown,
they don't as Sammy Seal. The third bubble on special
teams by the Raiders today and this one the costs
list of them all and New England le it's twenty
six to twenty.
Speaker 15 (19:44):
The pressure of the big game has forced some very
unusual airrors today.
Speaker 2 (19:51):
Just a matter of seconds, the Patriots score ten points
to take the La Candillac Michigan Jim Bowman, and he
just made a top of them line away, recovering the
ball in the end zone for the touchdown.
Speaker 1 (20:03):
For the third time in two playoff games, the Patriots
special team set up an important score. Suddenly, the three
point deficit was erased and New England was back on
top twenty seven to twenty with one quarter to play.
It was a total team effort to close it out.
The Raiders' first possession of the fourth quarter ended in
a punt. The Patriots offense responded with all runs from
James and Collins. They'd pick up just one first down,
(20:24):
but keep the clock running to under eight minutes. This
was a Patriots team designed to dominate in the fourth quarter,
led by Hall of Fame blocker John Hannah. We got there,
bok Hofe.
Speaker 14 (20:33):
We had a really good We had a good running game.
Speaker 9 (20:37):
You know, we had a powerful offensive line, and we had,
you know, a group of guys that really played well
together and bought well each other.
Speaker 4 (20:47):
It was just a.
Speaker 1 (20:49):
I guess we was just a kind of a determination.
Then the defense grabbed yet another takeaway, with Fred Marion
adding a pick to his fumble recovery the.
Speaker 14 (20:58):
Raiders trailed by a touchdown.
Speaker 2 (21:00):
It's intercept them Marion fred Merrian on his way to
the forty four yard line off the hands of Christiansen,
who couldn't make the miracle reception on that one.
Speaker 1 (21:12):
Both Marion and Ronnie Lapett led the way with two
takeaways each. The Patriots offense continued to lean on their
powerful running back group, with Robert Weathers and Mosey Totupu
joining James and Collins. The ball kept moving and the
clock kept running. After taking over with seven to twenty remaining,
the Pats didn't pump the ball back to the Raiders
until one forty four left in the game.
Speaker 14 (21:31):
So no timeouts. One forty four leave, It's in the
hands of Mark Wilson.
Speaker 1 (21:36):
Mark Wilson couldn't orchestrate a miracle and his final fourth
down pass attempt fell incomplete.
Speaker 4 (21:41):
The New England Patriots.
Speaker 14 (21:44):
Pulled the one upset out of the playoffs.
Speaker 4 (21:46):
Sambo going to Miami next week.
Speaker 3 (21:48):
I thank you.
Speaker 4 (21:49):
Just execute two snaps from.
Speaker 1 (21:51):
Setter he sit and the Patriots took a knee in
the victory formation. The Patriots were about to steal a
second NFL playoff win and one over a team that
had caused them plenty of frustration over the prior decade.
Speaker 2 (22:02):
This game is over of the New England Patriots have
upset the Los Angeles Raiders twenty seven to twenty.
Speaker 4 (22:10):
A stun crowd of eighty eight.
Speaker 8 (22:12):
Thousand, nine hundred and thirty six in the Coliseum in
Los Angeles, and the Patriots wanted on the ground and
taking advantage of the Raider.
Speaker 1 (22:21):
Mistakes for the pet He saw what the win meant
for the Vets who had been around since the nineteen seventies.
Speaker 17 (22:27):
Yeah, it was fun.
Speaker 4 (22:29):
Getting into suptions was great.
Speaker 20 (22:30):
But just seeing the look on those older fellow eyes
and seeing the tears.
Speaker 10 (22:35):
On the way.
Speaker 4 (22:35):
What is this game that big?
Speaker 20 (22:38):
And I'm like, this is this must be a fantastic
thing for them, you know they were they were filling it.
Speaker 1 (22:45):
I'm like, okay, man, I'm so happy. Cedre Jones and
Garon Veris noted an unhappy Raiders team that still didn't
believe in the Patriots. As they walked off the field,
we were just excited.
Speaker 23 (22:55):
Everybody was joking around and a lot of Raiders Mike
Haynes on their team to talk. He had left the
Patriots gone there and said a lot of guys out
there for the ratest thoughts that we just gave Miami
the Super Bowl.
Speaker 13 (23:05):
You know you're gonna win everything.
Speaker 10 (23:06):
And I remember going off the field afterwards, and you know,
it was a Lester Hayes I think was coming off
the field and say, you guys are going to get
your butt beats in Miami.
Speaker 4 (23:15):
You know you have no chance.
Speaker 10 (23:16):
And you know, I think that just to beat the
Raiders and then to hear that that, you know, they
didn't give us a respect, that we were going in
a little upset and we wanted to continue the role.
Speaker 1 (23:28):
Craig James finished with one hundred and four rushing yards.
Easton threw for one hundred and sixty four and didn't
turn the ball over. The Patriots controlled the clock, the tempo,
and the tone in true eighty five Patriots fashion. They
got contributions from all three phases. Now they were moving
on to their first AFC Championship Game appearance in team history,
but not before a postgame scuffle took center stage. Patriots
(24:01):
GM Patrick Sullivan was in the middle of it.
Speaker 11 (24:03):
It was It was weird because I always stood on
the sidelines during the game. I just found I liked it,
and I never ever spoke to an opposing player ever,
and I would happen to be standing next to our
strength coach Dean Brittenham, and Dean was riding Howie Long,
and I didn't say a word to him, right, and
(24:25):
it was so out of character. Dean was a very
low key guy, but he was riding him pretty heavily,
and how He came over and thought I was doing it.
Speaker 1 (24:33):
So he said to me, are you talking to me
usob And I said, no, I'm not.
Speaker 11 (24:39):
But as long as you're here, you know, we are
absolutely rolling you down the field. And it's too bad
that you spent too much time talking about this game
instead of preparing for the game.
Speaker 14 (24:50):
Well, then he turned around.
Speaker 11 (24:51):
He said I'll be back, and that's how the whole
thing started.
Speaker 1 (24:54):
Center Pete Brock witnessed the initial confrontation between Sullivan and Long.
Speaker 7 (24:57):
Howie Long, you know, I'm running out of bounds, you know,
five yards down the field or something like that, just
staying on a block, and Pat Sullivan comes over the
top and starts hollering at Howie Long.
Speaker 17 (25:10):
I'm just calling him name.
Speaker 24 (25:12):
He putting names together that didn't belong together. I didn't
you know anyway. So we're walking back out on the field.
So how He's yelling back at at Pat. And we
get back out on the field, like going to our
respective huddles.
Speaker 17 (25:27):
Howie says, who the hell was that?
Speaker 24 (25:29):
And that's our general manager, that's Pat Sullivan.
Speaker 1 (25:32):
When the game concluded, Sullivan and Millen had a confrontation,
with Millan taking a swing that connected with the Patriots GM.
Speaker 12 (25:38):
So the game's over and I'm walking off the field
and all of a sudden, this guy jumps up in
Howie's face.
Speaker 4 (25:44):
I walked over and I grabbed him.
Speaker 10 (25:45):
By the back of the head and shook his head
and threw him.
Speaker 4 (25:48):
He got up and swung at me. Okay, I ducked him.
Speaker 1 (25:53):
And I we can drill them. Pow cut his eye open.
I go into the locker room.
Speaker 10 (25:57):
Nickd up to me and goes, uh, he might when
he get an attorney for this, I said, for what
he said, well, it was the general manager for the pages.
Speaker 1 (26:07):
It made for a famous picture and perhaps a fitting
ending for a rivalry game in the mid eighties. Forty
years later, all involved can remember it with a laugh.
Speaker 11 (26:15):
As it turns out, you know, we're now in the
television business.
Speaker 4 (26:19):
So we do we do, we do?
Speaker 11 (26:22):
We did just we did the Super Bowl for Fox,
and obviously we do all the pregame shows. So I
see how he long all the time. When Matt was
working for Fox, I used to see him all the time.
We ended up becoming pretty friendly, you know, and and
laughing about the whole thing.
Speaker 16 (26:38):
You know.
Speaker 25 (26:39):
I told one of their players that I was tired
of were making speeches about our football team and how
how great the Raiders are and how allows you the
New England Patriots are.
Speaker 14 (26:47):
I told him I was tired of that. He took
exception to it.
Speaker 25 (26:50):
During the game, he tells me he's going to see
me after the game on the ramp, and he did.
Who was it? Well, actually, the guy that gave me
this was Matt Millen. Got me by the back of
the hair, wings his helmet at me.
Speaker 14 (27:01):
That's real good, you know.
Speaker 25 (27:02):
The guy stands up there, real tough with both hands
and his helmet off and hits me with his helmet.
Speaker 14 (27:08):
Let me tell you something.
Speaker 25 (27:09):
We're just getting back for Jack Tatum and all the
other crap that this football team has put on our
football team for twelve years.
Speaker 11 (27:17):
I wish that hadn't happened because it actually took attention
away from a monumental performance on the part of our team,
particularly our offensive line.
Speaker 7 (27:25):
With their stunning upset in the Coliseum, New England had
taken another step toward locker room space.
Speaker 4 (27:31):
In Super Bowl twenty the ghost.
Speaker 1 (27:34):
Of the seventies were gone, and now the Patriots were
one went away from a trip to the Super Bowl.
The opponent the Miami Dolphins, and a rematch that Raymond
Berry predicted after the Patriots got punched defeat at the
Orange Bowl just a month earlier. It was poetic justice.
The Patriots were headed back to Miami.
Speaker 18 (27:58):
As a team, say laste one of the biggest plants
in the franchisees the last two ways, what we've done
has been really remarked.
Speaker 1 (28:05):
Next time on the nineteen eighty five Super Bowl sound
outyssey the AFC Championship, a rematch with the Dolphins at
the dreaded Orange Bowl, and a chance to make history.
Speaker 4 (28:13):
The Padres go to Miami.
Speaker 19 (28:17):
You saw one of the finest games this year, maybe
the second finest.
Speaker 4 (28:21):
You will see the finals next week. We got the
fun they stopinos. Now we're gonna win the next year.
Speaker 14 (28:27):
The next one
What do you remember about the nineteen eighty five Patriots
forty years later? We're going back to tell the story
of the first Patriots team to make it to a
Super Bowl, the special team that blazed a pathway that
we much traveled over the next four decades. Here from
the players and coaches, as well as the sounds from
television and radio that defined the season, as we uncover
what made this a Patriots team to remember even if
(00:20):
they didn't win a Super Bowl championship. Here, annihilating might
be a better word.
Speaker 2 (00:27):
Good yard.
Speaker 3 (00:32):
Here we playboard, push out, doing what the defense coy
Murger's back.
Speaker 4 (00:38):
We're gonna throw a fire one the fire.
Speaker 5 (00:41):
Cut down, Morgan puts down, pair hurbing player running it
all away, good.
Speaker 6 (00:53):
Touchdowns, eighty five yards burning prior Nason rolling out to
the right side, avoiding the presser.
Speaker 3 (01:00):
I'm Ernie Brown, Lynn Duffin in the end zone six
point Patriots shut down Atrian Tony Collins look hate brand
have believe.
Speaker 1 (01:11):
I might do so. And this is a Patriots Super
Bowl Sound Odyssey nineteen eighty five, Episode seven, The Revenge were.
Speaker 6 (01:18):
About to ten to seconds, Romantico, You aren't Jets. The
season is over. We want Patriots, hit us back home
to Boston, to Hall and let's stay prepare for the
Los Angeles Rater.
Speaker 1 (01:32):
After notching the franchise's first NFL Playoff winning team history,
the nineteen eighty five Patriots were moving on to the
divisional round where the twelve and four Raiders awaited. Just
two seasons removed from their third Super Bowl title, the
Patriots and Raiders had history, painful history. The nineteen seventy
six playoff loss still haunted many of New England's veterans,
while Sugar Bear Hamilton of the infamous roughing the passer
(01:53):
call was now part of the Patriots coaching staff.
Speaker 7 (01:56):
Mark the end zone the Raider.
Speaker 4 (02:08):
The down one line.
Speaker 8 (02:13):
Only thirty football.
Speaker 1 (02:15):
Game earlier, in Week four of nineteen eighty five, the
Raiders beat the Patriots thirty five to twenty, the most
lopsided loss of the Patriots regular season, the Raiders going on.
Speaker 9 (02:24):
To the victory here for the record of two and two.
Time has run out the New England Patriots. So the Raiders,
with a bounce back victory following the clabbering at the
hands of the forty nine ers last week, have turned
it to defeat the Patriots by the score of thirty
five to twenty.
Speaker 1 (02:43):
Now the Patriots had a chance to rewrite the story
and finally achieve what was stopped by the Raiders nearly
a decade earlier. Even rookie garn Varus was aware of
the team history between the two franchises.
Speaker 10 (02:53):
Yeah, well, Sugar Barry Helmlton was one of my assistant coaches,
so uh he we had to hear about that every
day in practice. So that was that was that was
a little bit of incentive for the defensive line to
you know, get get a win for for Ray Hamilton. Uh,
what a great guy, what a great coach, And I
know that was still a bitter, bitter piece and uh
(03:15):
you know their memory, but uh, to be part of
that team that could you know, go back after what
had happened in uh in the seventies and to get
that win out in l A was was you know,
spectacular if.
Speaker 1 (03:28):
You gave the plucky Patriots a chance. GM Patrick Sullivan
saw head coach Raymond Barry takes special steps to get
his team prepared.
Speaker 11 (03:35):
Well, you know, in that era, there was no such
thing as a practice bubble. So Raymond said, well, let's
let's uh let's go practice in southern California and set
up shot down there. And we ended up at Santa
Anna College, which is just south of Anaheim, and spent
the week practicing there, and every day in the LA
(03:56):
papers there would be a quote from Howie Long talking
about the fact that as long as the Sullivan family
was involved with the Patriots, they had no chance of
ever going to the Super Bowl, right, And it was
just it was really personal, went through the whole week, right,
And I couldn't really quite understand that. You know, we
had never had any interaction with how I would presume
(04:19):
our scouts, did you know at some point when you
was at Villanova. So I'm not really sure where that
animosity came from. We had an equal level of animosity
towards Al Davis, but we weren't talking about it in
the paper.
Speaker 12 (04:32):
You know, I'm a member of the winningest team of
professional football. We've been to the playoffs thirty some odd times.
The Patriots have been there six times, haven't won yet.
We'll see who wins today.
Speaker 1 (04:43):
Nineteen eighty five, UPI CO Defensive Player of the Year
Andre Tippett knew the defense was ready to go toe
to toe with the Raiders.
Speaker 13 (04:48):
Nobody ever said anything, but we knew. We knew that
there was bad blood. We knew the Sullivans and the
davis Is, the things were happening, and you know, we
didn't think much of it more than just it's there.
Speaker 4 (05:02):
It exists.
Speaker 13 (05:03):
But we again, it's like the big bad Bully, the
big bad Bear, the big bad boogeyman. Hey, let's eleven
against eleven. Everybody's competing, everybody's bringing it, nobody's letting anybody
down or everybody on top of their assignments. We're gonna
make it halp. And we just we took every every
(05:26):
gut punch, every upper cut, every haymaker they threw at us,
and we just kept fighting back. I mean, it wasn't
any you know thing like they get a touchdown and
we put a head down and you know, man, we
you know, it was just like we just kept fighting.
We were swinging body blows and everything.
Speaker 11 (05:43):
It was.
Speaker 4 (05:43):
It was crazy.
Speaker 8 (05:44):
We're lying from the Los Angeles Memorial Collar Sam. It's
a long walk about one hundred yards through a winding
tunnel from the locker rooms down to the field of
play eighty five thousand away. The Raiders meet the Patriots
for a chance to play Miami next week and then
the road to.
Speaker 4 (06:00):
The Super Bowl.
Speaker 1 (06:01):
January fifth, nineteen eighty six, Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum, Patriots
verse Raiders for the chance to go to the AFC Championship.
Speaker 8 (06:09):
It's an He's a game to look at because just
like good theatre in good cinema, you look up on
the marquee and the stars are there. And for these
two teams, the Patriots and Raiders, EH has a headliner
that has certainly drawn a lot of attention.
Speaker 14 (06:21):
By the opposition.
Speaker 1 (06:22):
The Raiders were without their starting quarterback Jim Plunkett, the
Patriots first overall draft pick in nineteen seventy one, who
have been limited to just three games in nineteen eighty five.
Backup Mark Wilson had gone eleven to two in his place,
but through twenty one interceptions to just sixteen touchdowns.
Speaker 15 (06:36):
Not only a great deal of the preparation during this week,
but a lot of the conscience but of this New
England defense is on number thirty two, Marcus Allen.
Speaker 4 (06:44):
He is the ded A mark Man.
Speaker 1 (06:46):
It was nineteen eighty five NFL MVP Marcus Allen who
led the Raiders offense rushing for seventeen hundred yards and
eleven touchdowns, while tight end Todd Christensen was their main
receiving threat with eighty two receptions.
Speaker 15 (06:57):
Let's look first to Tony Eason and he has had
it up down season a season and what she was
able to get off to a very bad start, set
out for a while with Grogan on the field, and
came back and has played very well for the Patriots.
Speaker 1 (07:09):
They hoped to get another clean performance from their quarterback
Tony Easton well. Going against a bruising defense led by
Howie Long, Matt Millen, and former Patriot cornerback Mike Haynes,
Easton would have to be better than he was when
he faced the Raiders in Week four. Veteran linebacker and
defensive signal caller Steve Nelson knew the key would be
stopping Allen.
Speaker 16 (07:26):
I think the one thing we had was their quarterback
situation was not great, and we knew that we had
to stop there, you know, Marcus Allen. And if we
did that, we were going to be all right because
we didn't think they could be us throwing the ball,
and you know, we had a couple of great corners,
so that didn't surprise me movie.
Speaker 17 (07:46):
Though, actually going out to l A, we knew you
know that, you know they had they had Marta Allen.
I mean they had a great defense long, I mean
they were stacked man, and they were a team that
was destined to go to the next level.
Speaker 1 (08:01):
The Patriots took the opening kickoff and quickly picked up
two first downs, getting out to midfield before Easan took
a sack and they were forced to punt third and
long for reason.
Speaker 2 (08:09):
And he's in big trouble, Sean Jones, number ninety nine.
He's played three games since Alzado was injured, five and
a half six in those three games, and he picks
up a minus.
Speaker 14 (08:24):
Fourteen on that play.
Speaker 15 (08:26):
That's a lion Driver twenty one level free ball.
Speaker 4 (08:31):
And who's got it? They're still in a tugo war
down there there.
Speaker 15 (08:35):
Some of the best fights in football are at the
bottom of those stacks.
Speaker 4 (08:38):
When the fumble is loose.
Speaker 2 (08:39):
It's New England's ball and the first big break goes
to the Patriots. Raemond Berry's Special Teams come up with
a fumble.
Speaker 1 (08:49):
Of Fulton Walker, but once again New England Super Special
teams came through after getting four takeaways against the Jets
in the wildcard round, the Patriots were on their way
to six against the Raiders. It was a season long
trend and highlighted the consistent game changing plays the defense
and special teams delivered something that Craig James believed could
get into an opponent's head.
Speaker 18 (09:07):
You get in the head of your opponent because you've
got this reputation of creating turnovers. So now you're playing us,
you're sitting everything. Am I gonna be the guy is
going to fumble this thing? Am I going to turn
it over? I'm going to miss a block that causes
a fumble, strip sag and so you get in their head.
We had a fumble drill at every practice that Raymond did,
and you had to pick up two balls. Everybody on
(09:27):
the team they dropped the ball, you had to fall
on it. And it made us become instinctive, you know,
second nature. You fall on the ball, pick it up.
I'm sure Nowaday, he said, a lot of coaches do
that with a fumble drill, but for us, it was
like saying, it was instincts.
Speaker 1 (09:41):
Balls on the ground, you're on the ball, you know,
And so it paid off. Jim Bowman recovered the muff
punt return, and two plays later, Easan would hit tight
end Lin Dawson for the game's first score.
Speaker 2 (09:50):
So it's second and a long Tooesen touchdown, Lynn Dawson,
the tight end.
Speaker 15 (09:57):
The Patriots come up with a touchdown. I want to
turnover on special teams. That's a good scrabble by Easton
getting to the outside.
Speaker 4 (10:05):
This was something that the Raider defense was concerned about.
Speaker 14 (10:08):
A great throw the sixth three, Dawson leaping high above
the defender.
Speaker 19 (10:12):
Tony Franklin ants the extra point, a thirteen yard touchdown
from Easton to Lynn Dawson.
Speaker 4 (10:18):
Dawson did not catch.
Speaker 14 (10:20):
A touchdown past whole year, but he has a big
one early.
Speaker 4 (10:24):
In this playoff.
Speaker 1 (10:25):
Cornerback Ronnie the Pett took note of the first touchdown
as he was on the verge of one of the
best games of his career.
Speaker 20 (10:30):
Charlie Asim was a fine quarterback man.
Speaker 4 (10:33):
People just don't know how good he was. He was great.
Speaker 20 (10:37):
He threw the ball in there and Lynn Dawson he
caught the ball in the end zone over over a
guy's head and I'm like WHOA Two.
Speaker 1 (10:49):
Plays later, the defense continued the turnover parade. That wouldn't
stop all game long, looking for Christensen said.
Speaker 21 (10:57):
It is intercepted by the Patriots pets at the thirty
six yard line, Love pets diving in front of the
intended receiver, and New England.
Speaker 14 (11:09):
Has turned it over again.
Speaker 1 (11:11):
However, despite getting two first quarter takeaways, the Patriots couldn't
expand their lead, and a blocked Punk got the Raiders
on the board with a field goal.
Speaker 15 (11:18):
Barry's philosophy very simply, let's not make the mistakes, let's
make them beat us, Let's not beat ourselves.
Speaker 4 (11:24):
Here is Raymond Barry.
Speaker 19 (11:26):
Boys looking fifty two twentieth round draft choice himself with
the coach now Hall of Famer Bolton Walker.
Speaker 2 (11:33):
At the ten for the Raiders, and it picks a
big Raider bound followay on the twenty Raiders.
Speaker 14 (11:42):
Ball at the New England sixteen right.
Speaker 2 (11:45):
Townsend's block punt leads to a bar field goal.
Speaker 4 (11:49):
I have seven to three Patriots.
Speaker 1 (11:51):
The Raiders started to ride Marcus Allen but missed another
field goal as New England's offense punted on back to
back possessions.
Speaker 2 (11:57):
Plenty of legs upright and skits to the outside.
Speaker 4 (12:02):
No urb, he's no bar.
Speaker 2 (12:04):
Then unlucky hits the wrong side of the bar and
it's wide right, and it remains seven to three New
England with fourteens in left in.
Speaker 1 (12:12):
The ham the field position started to shift in Eli's
favor and the league MVP Allen was starting to heat up,
leading the Raiders to the first touchdown of the game after.
Speaker 2 (12:21):
The penalty wind up in touchdown Hester Jesse Hester, the
rookie from Florida State, the Raiders number one draft h.
Speaker 14 (12:30):
And Los Angeles leeds for the first time.
Speaker 1 (12:33):
The Raiders took the lead ten to seven and quickly
expanded upon it when mostly Totupu lost a fumble on
New England's next offensive play.
Speaker 14 (12:40):
Ten to seven, Raiders laid for the first time.
Speaker 15 (12:42):
Ten on a half minutes.
Speaker 14 (12:43):
Left in the hands to two poo probles and the
Raiders have it. How he long was in control before
he went out of bounds.
Speaker 15 (12:54):
He's everywhere.
Speaker 1 (12:56):
Alan cashed in three plays later, Marcus s Adam.
Speaker 14 (13:02):
Touchdown.
Speaker 2 (13:02):
But a flag is sound and the way they're reacting
it's against no Egglin touchdown will hold.
Speaker 1 (13:11):
The Raiders had scored seventeen straight points is The Patriots
were now down by ten in the second quarter. And
desperately in need of a response, and they'd get it.
James scampered for sixteen yards on the first play. Easton
hit James for twenty four yards two plays later. Then
Totupu made up for his fumble with a twenty two
yard run.
Speaker 4 (13:27):
So Tupoo, he's in the open.
Speaker 14 (13:30):
So that fifteen yard line mostly to two poo.
Speaker 1 (13:34):
James would finish off the eighty yard drive and the
Patriots were back in business, cutting the Raiders' lead to
seventeen to fourteen.
Speaker 14 (13:41):
No England trying to close within three. They don't want
a field goal. They talked it over on the sidelines.
Shut it down. He had a handoff to James. He's
got a blocker. He's gotta cutch down.
Speaker 2 (13:54):
Hog Hannah pulling and that little.
Speaker 4 (13:57):
Inside hand off out of the shotgun.
Speaker 14 (13:59):
That has worked well for the Patriots throughout the year.
Speaker 4 (14:03):
The Rugger one.
Speaker 15 (14:04):
The man has been called the best lineman in all
of football's history, professional history. We'll show you a moment
what Hawk Hanna did on that play.
Speaker 4 (14:13):
Just a moment ago.
Speaker 15 (14:14):
We signed burying somebody on the play previous.
Speaker 1 (14:16):
The Patriots would start to pour it on first, narrowly
missing out on her fumble recovery on the ensuing kickoff,
but they'd have to wait just two more plays to
get the ball back. When Ronnie Lapett grabbed his second
interception of the game Wilson.
Speaker 2 (14:31):
Interceptab the Patriots have it at the twenty eight yard line.
Ronnie LaPete has his second steal of a Wilson pass
in the first half.
Speaker 14 (14:41):
Not well thrown at all.
Speaker 1 (14:43):
Franklin tacked on another field goal to tie things up.
Speaker 19 (14:45):
Try to take advantage of la Pet's second interception of
a Wilson pass here in this first.
Speaker 4 (14:50):
Half, see Franklin stamping things down.
Speaker 15 (14:53):
He's ll Stillskin is preparing the spot where he's going
to kick front.
Speaker 2 (14:58):
I watch him.
Speaker 4 (14:58):
He'll step back and here after stopping that grass.
Speaker 14 (15:02):
Down, he knows where the ball is.
Speaker 4 (15:04):
The finger of the holder Ethan.
Speaker 14 (15:06):
Marks the spot.
Speaker 2 (15:07):
Forty five yard attempts and it's good.
Speaker 1 (15:12):
But New England couldn't hold the tie into halftime, allowing
the Raiders one final field goal drive. However, it will
be Los Angeles's final points of the game, and the Raiders.
Speaker 2 (15:22):
Had the lame an impressive drive, but I'm frustrating in
for Los Angeles.
Speaker 4 (15:28):
They certainly thought they'd get seven.
Speaker 14 (15:29):
Out of that and had to settle for the three.
Speaker 4 (15:32):
They had a twenty to.
Speaker 2 (15:32):
Seventeen lead with six seconds remaining in the hair.
Speaker 1 (15:36):
At halftime, the Patriots were down by three, with the
Raiders maintaining a twenty to seventeen lead. At the start
of the third quarter, the defense began to further exert
their will, led by two sacks from Don Blackman under
defensive coordinator Rod Rust, Andre Tippett, and the Patriots defense
saved their best for the playoffs.
Speaker 15 (15:52):
You wonder who's calling the defenses for this new England team,
Rod Rust.
Speaker 4 (15:57):
What an incredible year he has had.
Speaker 15 (16:00):
He has put this team together, and he was I
think a real blessing for Raymond Berry that he was
in place and had this defense cranking. Ray mcberry one
of his first acts was to say, hey, I want
him to stay as long as he wants us.
Speaker 13 (16:14):
He again, we knew what we're capable of, and it
was like, dude, I mean, we're do your job. We're
doing your job. Before it became a big, big thing,
big slogan, but we were literally doing what we had
practiced for, what we were going to be aware of.
We we you know, Rod Russ broke it down to us.
(16:36):
Here's what's going to happen. Here's what you're going to
look for. Here's when our opportunity is going to show itself.
Speaker 4 (16:41):
And we did it.
Speaker 13 (16:42):
We we were not in awe of anybody.
Speaker 14 (16:46):
We're down to seventeen for Wilson. Don Blackman. Well, that
was a rough series for Wilson. Two timeouts and a
very rude second got all.
Speaker 1 (17:00):
The way to the Patriots forty before they started going
backwards thanks to Blackman and a holding call, Allen had
already gone over one hundred yards. The Patriots defense bent,
but didn't break, as they continued to hang on even
through their own mistakes.
Speaker 14 (17:13):
Over the middle of James Blah blah, balls and the
Raider had it.
Speaker 2 (17:18):
James had picked up the yardage necessary for a first down,
but then loses the ball and Van Mcelelay recovers at
the Patriot thirty nine.
Speaker 1 (17:29):
Craig James fumbled it back to the Raiders on New
England's first possession of the second half, but Marcus Allen
coughed it right back to the Patriots. On the raiders
first play, Marcus Allen.
Speaker 2 (17:37):
Hap on balls and New England has it at the
thirty two Brad Marion for thirty one balling pumpkin as
Marcus Allen.
Speaker 4 (17:48):
Hadn't scripped away.
Speaker 22 (17:49):
The Raiders are arguing that Allen was known real turnaround
and the turnovers. You see the listed there for by
the Raiders today, and how interesting it is that they
can continue to be a team that somehow manages to
survive the negative numbers on the turnover.
Speaker 2 (18:06):
Go back to back fumbles and the Patriots have it
again at their own thirty two midway through the third quarter.
Speaker 1 (18:13):
That's when Easton and the Patriots put together two quick scores,
one on offense and one on special teams, the same
way they had done the week before, to help seal
the win over the Jets.
Speaker 14 (18:22):
Yeah, Neison, no complictions to a wide receiver?
Speaker 3 (18:28):
Is this the time yet?
Speaker 2 (18:29):
Stanley Morgan bumbles and Irving Prior lovers for New England, Well,
how do you do? They don't complete a pass to
a wide receiver.
Speaker 22 (18:39):
So four and a half minutes into the third quarter
and then both men get their hands on.
Speaker 4 (18:42):
A successful blood.
Speaker 1 (18:44):
Stanley Morgan's twenty two yard reception that he nearly fumbled
away was the key play on the drive, setting up
Tony Franklin with a thirty two yard field goal that
tied the game at twenty to twenty.
Speaker 2 (18:54):
Wendy leg and it's even again as Franklin grills it.
Speaker 1 (18:58):
The Raiders lined up to receive the suing kickoff, but
the Patriots special team struck again, with Cedric Jones and
Jim Bowman getting in on another game changing play.
Speaker 23 (19:06):
And then we had a fumble play where I taba
ball Sam Seal on a kickoff return on table. I
was I deal with the tap and try to get
the Ins on their recovery. As I got to the
ens on Jim Bowen ran over me. He weighed two
twenty high, weigh one eighty five, so you got the
fumber recovery.
Speaker 14 (19:22):
Kicking to Sammy Seal at the five oh no place.
Speaker 2 (19:25):
The high bubbles again in New England. They have a touchdown,
they don't as Sammy Seal. The third bubble on special
teams by the Raiders today and this one the costs
list of them all and New England le it's twenty
six to twenty.
Speaker 15 (19:44):
The pressure of the big game has forced some very
unusual airrors today.
Speaker 2 (19:51):
Just a matter of seconds, the Patriots score ten points
to take the La Candillac Michigan Jim Bowman, and he
just made a top of them line away, recovering the
ball in the end zone for the touchdown.
Speaker 1 (20:03):
For the third time in two playoff games, the Patriots
special team set up an important score. Suddenly, the three
point deficit was erased and New England was back on
top twenty seven to twenty with one quarter to play.
It was a total team effort to close it out.
The Raiders' first possession of the fourth quarter ended in
a punt. The Patriots offense responded with all runs from
James and Collins. They'd pick up just one first down,
(20:24):
but keep the clock running to under eight minutes. This
was a Patriots team designed to dominate in the fourth quarter,
led by Hall of Fame blocker John Hannah. We got there,
bok Hofe.
Speaker 14 (20:33):
We had a really good We had a good running game.
Speaker 9 (20:37):
You know, we had a powerful offensive line, and we had,
you know, a group of guys that really played well
together and bought well each other.
Speaker 4 (20:47):
It was just a.
Speaker 1 (20:49):
I guess we was just a kind of a determination.
Then the defense grabbed yet another takeaway, with Fred Marion
adding a pick to his fumble recovery the.
Speaker 14 (20:58):
Raiders trailed by a touchdown.
Speaker 2 (21:00):
It's intercept them Marion fred Merrian on his way to
the forty four yard line off the hands of Christiansen,
who couldn't make the miracle reception on that one.
Speaker 1 (21:12):
Both Marion and Ronnie Lapett led the way with two
takeaways each. The Patriots offense continued to lean on their
powerful running back group, with Robert Weathers and Mosey Totupu
joining James and Collins. The ball kept moving and the
clock kept running. After taking over with seven to twenty remaining,
the Pats didn't pump the ball back to the Raiders
until one forty four left in the game.
Speaker 14 (21:31):
So no timeouts. One forty four leave, It's in the
hands of Mark Wilson.
Speaker 1 (21:36):
Mark Wilson couldn't orchestrate a miracle and his final fourth
down pass attempt fell incomplete.
Speaker 4 (21:41):
The New England Patriots.
Speaker 14 (21:44):
Pulled the one upset out of the playoffs.
Speaker 4 (21:46):
Sambo going to Miami next week.
Speaker 3 (21:48):
I thank you.
Speaker 4 (21:49):
Just execute two snaps from.
Speaker 1 (21:51):
Setter he sit and the Patriots took a knee in
the victory formation. The Patriots were about to steal a
second NFL playoff win and one over a team that
had caused them plenty of frustration over the prior decade.
Speaker 2 (22:02):
This game is over of the New England Patriots have
upset the Los Angeles Raiders twenty seven to twenty.
Speaker 4 (22:10):
A stun crowd of eighty eight.
Speaker 8 (22:12):
Thousand, nine hundred and thirty six in the Coliseum in
Los Angeles, and the Patriots wanted on the ground and
taking advantage of the Raider.
Speaker 1 (22:21):
Mistakes for the pet He saw what the win meant
for the Vets who had been around since the nineteen seventies.
Speaker 17 (22:27):
Yeah, it was fun.
Speaker 4 (22:29):
Getting into suptions was great.
Speaker 20 (22:30):
But just seeing the look on those older fellow eyes
and seeing the tears.
Speaker 10 (22:35):
On the way.
Speaker 4 (22:35):
What is this game that big?
Speaker 20 (22:38):
And I'm like, this is this must be a fantastic
thing for them, you know they were they were filling it.
Speaker 1 (22:45):
I'm like, okay, man, I'm so happy. Cedre Jones and
Garon Veris noted an unhappy Raiders team that still didn't
believe in the Patriots. As they walked off the field,
we were just excited.
Speaker 23 (22:55):
Everybody was joking around and a lot of Raiders Mike
Haynes on their team to talk. He had left the
Patriots gone there and said a lot of guys out
there for the ratest thoughts that we just gave Miami
the Super Bowl.
Speaker 13 (23:05):
You know you're gonna win everything.
Speaker 10 (23:06):
And I remember going off the field afterwards, and you know,
it was a Lester Hayes I think was coming off
the field and say, you guys are going to get
your butt beats in Miami.
Speaker 4 (23:15):
You know you have no chance.
Speaker 10 (23:16):
And you know, I think that just to beat the
Raiders and then to hear that that, you know, they
didn't give us a respect, that we were going in
a little upset and we wanted to continue the role.
Speaker 1 (23:28):
Craig James finished with one hundred and four rushing yards.
Easton threw for one hundred and sixty four and didn't
turn the ball over. The Patriots controlled the clock, the tempo,
and the tone in true eighty five Patriots fashion. They
got contributions from all three phases. Now they were moving
on to their first AFC Championship Game appearance in team history,
but not before a postgame scuffle took center stage. Patriots
(24:01):
GM Patrick Sullivan was in the middle of it.
Speaker 11 (24:03):
It was It was weird because I always stood on
the sidelines during the game. I just found I liked it,
and I never ever spoke to an opposing player ever,
and I would happen to be standing next to our
strength coach Dean Brittenham, and Dean was riding Howie Long,
and I didn't say a word to him, right, and
(24:25):
it was so out of character. Dean was a very
low key guy, but he was riding him pretty heavily,
and how He came over and thought I was doing it.
Speaker 1 (24:33):
So he said to me, are you talking to me
usob And I said, no, I'm not.
Speaker 11 (24:39):
But as long as you're here, you know, we are
absolutely rolling you down the field. And it's too bad
that you spent too much time talking about this game
instead of preparing for the game.
Speaker 14 (24:50):
Well, then he turned around.
Speaker 11 (24:51):
He said I'll be back, and that's how the whole
thing started.
Speaker 1 (24:54):
Center Pete Brock witnessed the initial confrontation between Sullivan and Long.
Speaker 7 (24:57):
Howie Long, you know, I'm running out of bounds, you know,
five yards down the field or something like that, just
staying on a block, and Pat Sullivan comes over the
top and starts hollering at Howie Long.
Speaker 17 (25:10):
I'm just calling him name.
Speaker 24 (25:12):
He putting names together that didn't belong together. I didn't
you know anyway. So we're walking back out on the field.
So how He's yelling back at at Pat. And we
get back out on the field, like going to our
respective huddles.
Speaker 17 (25:27):
Howie says, who the hell was that?
Speaker 24 (25:29):
And that's our general manager, that's Pat Sullivan.
Speaker 1 (25:32):
When the game concluded, Sullivan and Millen had a confrontation,
with Millan taking a swing that connected with the Patriots GM.
Speaker 12 (25:38):
So the game's over and I'm walking off the field
and all of a sudden, this guy jumps up in
Howie's face.
Speaker 4 (25:44):
I walked over and I grabbed him.
Speaker 10 (25:45):
By the back of the head and shook his head
and threw him.
Speaker 4 (25:48):
He got up and swung at me. Okay, I ducked him.
Speaker 1 (25:53):
And I we can drill them. Pow cut his eye open.
I go into the locker room.
Speaker 10 (25:57):
Nickd up to me and goes, uh, he might when
he get an attorney for this, I said, for what
he said, well, it was the general manager for the pages.
Speaker 1 (26:07):
It made for a famous picture and perhaps a fitting
ending for a rivalry game in the mid eighties. Forty
years later, all involved can remember it with a laugh.
Speaker 11 (26:15):
As it turns out, you know, we're now in the
television business.
Speaker 4 (26:19):
So we do we do, we do?
Speaker 11 (26:22):
We did just we did the Super Bowl for Fox,
and obviously we do all the pregame shows. So I
see how he long all the time. When Matt was
working for Fox, I used to see him all the time.
We ended up becoming pretty friendly, you know, and and
laughing about the whole thing.
Speaker 16 (26:38):
You know.
Speaker 25 (26:39):
I told one of their players that I was tired
of were making speeches about our football team and how
how great the Raiders are and how allows you the
New England Patriots are.
Speaker 14 (26:47):
I told him I was tired of that. He took
exception to it.
Speaker 25 (26:50):
During the game, he tells me he's going to see
me after the game on the ramp, and he did.
Who was it? Well, actually, the guy that gave me
this was Matt Millen. Got me by the back of
the hair, wings his helmet at me.
Speaker 14 (27:01):
That's real good, you know.
Speaker 25 (27:02):
The guy stands up there, real tough with both hands
and his helmet off and hits me with his helmet.
Speaker 14 (27:08):
Let me tell you something.
Speaker 25 (27:09):
We're just getting back for Jack Tatum and all the
other crap that this football team has put on our
football team for twelve years.
Speaker 11 (27:17):
I wish that hadn't happened because it actually took attention
away from a monumental performance on the part of our team,
particularly our offensive line.
Speaker 7 (27:25):
With their stunning upset in the Coliseum, New England had
taken another step toward locker room space.
Speaker 4 (27:31):
In Super Bowl twenty the ghost.
Speaker 1 (27:34):
Of the seventies were gone, and now the Patriots were
one went away from a trip to the Super Bowl.
The opponent the Miami Dolphins, and a rematch that Raymond
Berry predicted after the Patriots got punched defeat at the
Orange Bowl just a month earlier. It was poetic justice.
The Patriots were headed back to Miami.
Speaker 18 (27:58):
As a team, say laste one of the biggest plants
in the franchisees the last two ways, what we've done
has been really remarked.
Speaker 1 (28:05):
Next time on the nineteen eighty five Super Bowl sound
outyssey the AFC Championship, a rematch with the Dolphins at
the dreaded Orange Bowl, and a chance to make history.
Speaker 4 (28:13):
The Padres go to Miami.
Speaker 19 (28:17):
You saw one of the finest games this year, maybe
the second finest.
Speaker 4 (28:21):
You will see the finals next week. We got the
fun they stopinos. Now we're gonna win the next year.
Speaker 14 (28:27):
The next one
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